TTS (at a good price) vs cayman (s) - Page 2 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

So i'm in quite a fortunate position to have been offered a 09 tts with 40k with adaptive suspension for 15.5 from my boss,. However, i'm very keen on the cayman s (987) which would probably cost nearer 18k for such a milage 06 example. I know the cayman will eat the tts in terms of handling, interaction & fun and will probably cost a fair bit more to run also, along with the dreaded but rarer ims issue.. But the TTS is supposed to be one of the best tt's produced and handles well ish for a haldex car and goes well.. I was thinking considering most of the tts' of this era are going for 16/5-17 i could run the tts for sometime, if it bores me change and get more for it than i paid and get the cayman.. Some other viewpoints would be most gratefully received.

Spent plenty of time in both.... Cayman. All. Day. Long.

mrdemon will be along at some point having owned both but in the meanwhile, for my money it would have to be the Cayman S. As an aside, the ims was uprated for this model and is far less of a concern than on earlier models. A major source of worry, however, is bore scoring. And whilst it is widely over exaggerated on the internet, it would be a foolish man who bought one without first having the bores examined.

How does one inspect bores, engine apart job? Any external tell tell signs?

Had a TTS (revo'd) and a CR, both nice cars but the TTS needed a map to make into the car it should have been, even though i had the CR not a CS i would still go the porker

PorkRind said: How does one inspect bores, engine apart job? Any external tell tell signs? No nothing anywhere as near as drastic. You can get a boroscope down the plug holes and examine the bores that way. Any good independant should be able to do this. Indications of this issue include a light tapping sound, excessive oil burning and sooty righthand exhaust. Unfortunately, once these signs are evident its too late and the damage is done.

Golf plus some bodywork and slight upgrades or a slightly reduced power 911 without back seats... Test drives will end the debate, to be honest with you. The quality of the cabin would probably decide it for me before I even started the engine. If it didnt, the engine note would settle it. Handling does not even get a look in (although the Cayman is more composed and alive than the TT). At an emotional level, I would rather eat my nuts than drive an Audi at the moment. I am not entirely sure why. Probably because they seem to be the car for the person who knows nothing about cars and just wants a badge. The TTs a good car. Better than its reputation, but not close to a Cayman in my view. Difference in actual running costs is likely to be in the hundreds, rather than the thousands, I expect. MPG claims are almost always complete b ks. For what it is worth, I seem to get about 28mpg in my 987 S (19 or so in town and 32-34 out of town depending on how heavy-footed I am.

/sexism on The TTS is the sort of car my wife would like - stylish, good looking, quick, well built, but a bit dull and remote - fine for a quick A-B commuter car that looks good when you pull up somewhere, but it's no driver's car. /sexism off

I've not driven the TTS but have driven the 2.0T, 3.2Q and the mechanically similar S3. I'm sure the TTS is very very fast point to point but as others have said not very involving. If you're worried about running costs / risks and are more interested in feel, feedback and pure driving pleasure then I'd also take a look at a 2.7 Cayman too.

Both good cars in my view. Both easy to buy at these prices. Running costs have the potential to be very different.. In our family we have four audi's...quattro ,turbo and diesels...all between three and eight years old .They been very reliable with reasonable running costs ( £ 400- £700 p.a.) ..I've run three separate 911's (same age group) for the past 13 years and in my experience the running costs have been very different . Any Porsche ownership of this age usually comes at a cost ,it's very easy to have two or three bills of £1500 p.a. . I have been lucky nothing serious has happened to my cars but common replacements such as brakes ,exhausts ,radiators etc soon mount up. Main dealership servicing/ repairs are not cheap. Driving a porsche "vigorously" will use a set of £700 rear tyres in less than 8000 miles. Only trying to be informative here and in no way trying to put you off Cayman...Porsche cars ,especially the Cayman ( my next porsche) drive like nothing else IMHO. Nice position to be in . Lucky you.

Had a TTS and now have a Cayman 981; both excellent cars but the Cayman wins.

I agree that the base Cayman is also worth a look (only in manual).

PorkRind said: How does one inspect bores, engine apart job? Any external tell tell signs? Hi A good inde will do a Boroscope through its spark plug holes, if you check this list of good independents on porsche general forum there will be one there who can help, I have just bought a Cayman and wouldnt recommend buying one without a inspection or cast iron Warranty. Badger51

Everyone's responses seem to ignore the economics - if the TTS can be bought at below market value then I'd say have the best of both worlds - buy it, then later change for a Cayman. I can't imagine just "flipping" the Audi for a profit straight away would go down well so you'll have to keep it a few months I guess, by which time you'll know it well and will fully appreciate the difference a Cayman represents when you test drive and/or buy one.

thegoose said: Everyone's responses seem to ignore the economics - if the TTS can be bought at below market value then I'd say have the best of both worlds - buy it, then later change for a Cayman. I can't imagine just "flipping" the Audi for a profit straight away would go down well so you'll have to keep it a few months I guess, by which time you'll know it well and will fully appreciate the difference a Cayman represents when you test drive and/or buy one. Surprised you haven't mentioned that lovely 'Roc R you (I presume you?) have for sale. That's the best of both worlds here I reckon - better car to drive than the TTS, equally as quick, and lots of practical too, and cheaper to run than both the Porsche and the Audi.

The only thing putting me of the CS is the potential for engine sized bills, i've had engines go pop before and having for fork out 4+k isnt exactly the pinnacle of any motoring experience, its whats put me off buying a half decent car in the first place. I guess the audi will have the engine reliability over the porker, weird how this has been occuring since the later 996 /boxsters and still not been sorted..

I believe the 2.0T engines suffer from chain & tensioners issues too (sometimes with catastrophic consequences). I have to say the 2.7 manual Cayman is awesome and comparatively bulletproof (Hartech say they have never had to rebuild one for bore scoring or I understand IMS issues either). Particularly on 17" wheels its so chuckable and you really can use all of the performance on the road.

jcelee said: I believe the 2.0T engines suffer from chain & tensioners issues too (sometimes with catastrophic consequences). I have to say the 2.7 manual Cayman is awesome and comparatively bulletproof (Hartech say they have never had to rebuild one for bore scoring or I understand IMS issues either). Particularly on 17" wheels its so chuckable and you really can use all of the performance on the road. Ive read otherwise on planet911 Uber warranty thats checked to cover this kinda thing i reckon !!

I test drove a TTS before buying my 987 Cayman S. The Audi felt heavy, lethargic and lifeless compared to the Porsche. And I'm not an Audi-hater: I've had several S/RS models over the years and I still like them but as a sports car the TTS fails miserably next to the Cayman S.

jcelee said: I believe the 2.0T engines suffer from chain & tensioners issues too (sometimes with catastrophic consequences). That's odd, I'm sure I was told this had had a cambelt replacement - maybe they meant auxillary belt. Anyway, if the Scirocco doesn't sell this weekend it's going back (it's an SOR end-of-lease car from a local company - we cherry pick the good end of lease cars they have, usually ordinary Golfs though, they have 80+ of those, but also other driver-chosen nice one-offs like this one). It drives nicely, VERY little turbo lag and very fast indeed but I think the DSG gearbox needs another mode in between normal and sport, for which read "geriatric" and "banzai race nutter" - it needs a middle ground. It has 3 suspension settings, only 2 for the gearbox

Agree entirely with your comments on the DSG - you never get out of second, with the bloody thing bouncing off the limiter, and around town it sits in first ALL of the time. There is also launch control, which in a year of ownership I used once, just to see what it would do - all I managed to achieve was running over a badger. Though I don't suppose I can blame the gearbox for that.

Normal mode in PDK is pretty geriatric, too. I think it is actually harmful to the engine, to be honest. It will quite happily pootle along at 1000rpm and wont change down unless it knows you want lots of acceleration (rather than just gaining speed gradually, which should still be done at 2000rpm at least). I find myself driving in manual even in town quite a lot to avoid straining the engine.

Curious about the Planet911 reference. Googling it just brings up Baz's comment: "Stop worrying the 2.7 is unlikely to score bores. The bore diameter is smaller than a 3.2, 3.4, 3.6 or 3.8 and the cylinder casting is different so the amount of coolant surounding the cylinder is greater while the loads on the smaller piston are much less - so overall (as it produces less torque). It is difficult to know exactly under what conditions a score starts (as it happens in a few seconds) - except that it is a known phenomenon at low revs and high torque. We get slightly more tiptronics though for repair than manuals - so if more manuals were sold (don't know the figures) that would support this opinion because the tiptronic starts off from standstill in second of 5 gears and the 3.6 and particularly the 3.8 produce massive torque at very low revs (which starting off in second occurs at very low revs compared to someone driving a manual from 1st). So I think you are safe to ignore any worries and be glad you chose a more reliable version. Baz"

ORD said: Normal mode in PDK is pretty geriatric, too. I think it is actually harmful to the engine, to be honest. It will quite happily pootle along at 1000rpm and wont change down unless it knows you want lots of acceleration (rather than just gaining speed gradually, which should still be done at 2000rpm at least). I find myself driving in manual even in town quite a lot to avoid straining the engine. I know what you mean, but I doubt Porsche would program it this way if it really made any significant difference to engine reliability. The engine is not actually under that much load on part throttle and when you do start to load it up with more throttle, it changes down anyway. I find Sport mode is a pretty good compromise for general auto duties (Sport+ too aggressive for normal road use) and always drive it manually on proper roads.

Took a S out yesterday and was treated to a pretty decent 10 mile test drive by the OPC.. The car seems fantastic, 2 year OPC warranty on an 8 year old car - seems they're confident in its mechanicals?! Was quite highly priced at 20k for a 37k mile 06 plate car though.. I'm mulling it over but am thinking that given the roads in my area, theyre unbelievably terrible, would it be a bit unfair, not to mention expensive annihilating the shocks/wheels..

You pay £2k for the warranty so its not much of an indication of confidence in the car :-)

The sales chap said it was 545 / year?!

Interested in peoples thoughts on all three cars mentioned (cayman s, TTS & Scirocco R). Is a boxster S an alternative OP or do you not like convertibles?

jcelee said: I believe the 2.0T engines suffer from chain & tensioners issues too (sometimes with catastrophic consequences). The tts and scirocco r both use cam belts not chains, the 210 ps versions use chains.

davey68 said: Interested in peoples thoughts on all three cars mentioned (cayman s, TTS & Scirocco R). Is a boxster S an alternative OP or do you not like convertibles? Not sure how the sirocco got in there.. I prefer the ideal of a coupe/hardtop. But i'd be open to the right boxster... Edited by PorkRind on Monday 3rd February 22:53

PorkRind said: So i'm in quite a fortunate position to have been offered a 09 tts with 40k with adaptive suspension for 15.5 from my boss,. However, i'm very keen on the cayman s (987) which would probably cost nearer 18k for such a milage 06 example. I know the cayman will eat the tts in terms of handling, interaction & fun and will probably cost a fair bit more to run also, along with the dreaded but rarer ims issue.. But the TTS is supposed to be one of the best tt's produced and handles well ish for a haldex car and goes well.. I was thinking considering most of the tts' of this era are going for 16/5-17 i could run the tts for sometime, if it bores me change and get more for it than i paid and get the cayman.. Some other viewpoints would be most gratefully received. Cayman S all day long - I was in the same position as you and have had my Cayman S for almost 4 years and it still puts a smile on my face!